Catamount (LSD 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Catamount and Her Typhoons Now stand by for heavy rolls. This word, it seemed on occasions, was passed as often as mess gear. During July and August, locating the Catamount could have been done easily by checking the paths of typhoons, for it seemed that invariably both the Catamount and any number of typhoons wanted to go to the same places. There were seldom steaming days without some sign of a typhoon, and even the oldtimers among us said they had never seen so many storms. Our schedule was altered time after time by the swirling winds. The ten-day trip from Subic Bay to Okinawa is normally a short three-day run, but Amy and Wanda forced us to reverse course almost daily; the seven extra days we spent steaming cost us the Hong Kong station ship assignment. Our first night in Beppu was not originally scheduled, but Opel forced us to drop the anchor. The first five days in Sasebo were also not scheduled, but typhoon Ruth took longer than usual to move north then east. Below is a list of the typhoons during the 1 962 typhoon season, most of whom affected our steaming schedule: Joan 16 July Ka te 20 July Louise 23 July Nora 27 July Opel 3 August Patsy 8 August Ruth 16 August Sarah 22 August Thelmo 23 August Vera 26 August Wanda 29 August Amy 30 August Clara 21 Sept. Dinah 30 Sept. Emma 1 Oct. Gilda 3 Oct. Ivy 7 Oct. Jean 7 Nov. These typhoons required evasive action and or affected our schedule. 26

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5I At two different ports during the cruise, the Catamount crew became blood donors — on 5 November in Saigon, South Vietnam and on 14 December in Kobe, Japan. The following is an article appearing in the Kobe Morning Issue: Kobe, Dec. 14 — This morning 42 crew men of the USS CATAMOUNT, a 9,000-ton dock landing ship of the US 7th Fleet, under the command of CDR. H. F. Slawson, now moored alongside Pier 6, visited the Blood Plasma Corporation of Japan, Kobe Branch to donate their blood. Learning of the shortage of blood in stock at the Blood Bank in Kobe and having been in Kobe as Executive Officer of the USS WASHBURN, the very first US Navy ship to participate in blood donation in Kobe, CDR. Slawson encouraged his men to offer to donate their blood during their visit to Kobe. In response to the proposal of the Commanding Officer, LCDR. J. A. Simmons and 41 others arrived at the Blood Bank to make a wonderful Christmas present out of blood donations. About 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, the Blood Bank received a telephone call from the Yodogawa Christian Hospital, Higashiyodogava-ku, Osaka, asking for 600-cc of Rh-negative type to save the life of a newly born baby who was badly in need of blood exchange because of its blood type. The Blood Bank got in touch with the Prefectural Police Board for the 600-cc blood, part of the blood donated by American sailors this morning, to be taken to the Hospital in a police car, sincerely hoping it would be a really nice Christmas present for this poor baby. The parents of this lucky baby had looked for Rh-negative blood all over Osaka and even Tokyo but in vain. The Rh-negative type blood donated by American sailors was transferred into the vein of the baby at 5:00 p.m. and it is hoped by all at the hospital and its parents as well that the baby will escape the critical condition. 25

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Whds in Charge Here? 27